The present invention relates to an insulated staple and the method for making such a staple. More particularly, the present invention is related to a staple which has a generally U-shaped configuration and which includes a section of tubing formed from an insulating material and mounted on a body member to provide a staple with insulating characteristics for supporting conduits on walls, beams and similar supporting objects.
U-shaped staples for mounting conduits such as electrical or fluid conduits to other objects are well known in the are as indicated by U.S. Pats. Nos. 662,587, 2,351,608 and 2,526,902. In a typical installation where such staples are employed, the elongated conductor is held in place by the component parts of the staple comprising a bridging section interconnecting two generally opposed and parallel legs straddling the conductor. The parallel legs have pointed, free ends which are driven into the supporting object by a hammer or other tool. The bridging section of the U-shaped staple is frequently lined or covered with an insulating material so that the conduit or cable being supported is held in isolated relationship from the staple In this respect, the use of the terms "insulated," "insulating" or "insulation" in this specification is intended to encompass electrical, thermal, and vibrational insulating characteristics, all of which can be advantageously employed between mounting staples and a supported conduit.
In the prior art staples exemplified in the above-referenced patents, the U-shaped body member is formed from a relatively hard material, most commonly a metal, in order to withstand the blows of a hammer as the staple is driven into a supporting base. Since most metals are good electrical and thermal conductors and, by their inherent hardness, tend to transmit vibratory forces with little attenuation to the supported conduit, it is common to provide insulation about the bridging section and contiguous portions of the parallel legs of the body member by coating or mounting an insulating material on the body member to separate the conduit and body member in the mounted positions. In U.S. Pats. Nos. 662,587 and 2,351,608 the insulator is formed from a strip of insulating material or less pliable insert and is held to the body member by frictional engagement of the legs. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,526,902, the insulating material is applied to the staple as a close-fitting covering preferably applied by a molding operation with a special molding die of suitable construction.
In each of the above-referenced prior art staples, the insulator is specially formed for mounting on the U-shaped body members. While the end products are suitable for their intended purposes, the use of specially constructed insulators contributes to the cost of the product, and installation procedures utilized with such insulators can become relatively sophisticated in view of special molding or forming techniques required to obtain the desired insulator configuration and other difficulties associated with the installation of the insulators on the body members.
It is accordingly the general object of the present invention to disclose a staple which is simple in construction and which can be easily assembled from readily available insulating material having a multitude of other purposes.